


we are waiting

by curiouslyfic



Category: Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 08:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouslyfic/pseuds/curiouslyfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Andrew proposes, he goes all out, pulls off something out of Hollywood. His second's something from a coffee commercial.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we are waiting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elyssblair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elyssblair/gifts).



> Elyssblair, you sold me on this pairing and I love you for it. Thank you for your inspiring letter and your faith in these two. It was a sheer pleasure to write for you. 
> 
> Merry Yuletide. <3

The first time Andrew proposes, he goes all out, pulls off something out of Hollywood. Tiffany's after hours, the night of Melanie's first show, a public announcement before they've had time to let things sink in and more public declarations than his mother will ever let him forget. 

He'd been her Prince Charming for the night and he knows it now, thinks maybe that's where he'd gone wrong; he doesn't want to be someone's fairy tale hero, he just wants to be someone's future, the only _someone_ his someone wants. 

If his first proposal's something from the pages of a rom-com script, his second's something from a coffee commercial. They're awake far too early, both fumbling to start their day, and when Bobby Ray brings his mug of coffee into the living room, Andrew pulls him carefully down onto the couch. 

Bobby Ray's got the start of the socialite's cold -- he's picked up something shaking hands -- and Andrew's trying to shake off the lingering reminders of getting tipsy near his mother the night before, and neither one of them look or feel their best. 

Only Bobby Ray fits just right in Andrew's arms, manages to set his mug aside before Andrew buries his face in Bobby Ray's neck, and when Bobby Ray laughs out, "Stop, I'm disgusting," with that little wrinkle in his nose, Andrew comes to the singularly settling realization that he wants to hear that voice all his life. 

Wants to watch Bobby Ray's smile twitch into full bloom every chance he can, wants to know he won't have to suffer through another of his mother's parade of galas without Bobby Ray's slow charm beside him. 

So the first time he asks, he spends ages on the wording, runs through scenarios to script out his most dynamic option, the whole time wondering how she'll describe it for the Times. 

The second time he asks, it blurts out of him, comes half-muffled by Bobby Ray's warm skin, ends with Bobby Ray sighing and his own fingers curling into Bobby Ray's ratty robe. 

And when Bobby Ray's had a few long breaths to process it -- Andrew will be grateful for forever that Bobby Ray hadn't asked if he were kidding, hadn't had to hear it again to believe -- he says slow and thoughtful, "It would only be legal up here in the City." 

Andrew doesn't hold much of an opinion about the great state of Alabama these days, because while it's been the site of some of his worst moments, it's also been the site of some of his best and at the end of the day, what really matters is that they can be and have been happy together down in Pigeon Creek. 

Andrew's not so tied to the City he couldn't relocate permanently, if that's what Bobby Ray wants. He'll offer again, too, with or without the ring. 

Right then, though, Andrew has a cold streak of resentment for the state policy killing this moment. The folks of Pigeon Creek have been rather more open-minded about them than anyone's led Andrew to expect, though Lurlynn's said privately they have Clinton to thank. Having seen Clinton displeasured, Andrew can believe it. 

The rest of the state, though, their legislators, aren't nearly as welcoming. There've already been two private members bills trying to get homosexuality outlawed again. 

So Andrew pulls back, takes Bobby Ray's flushed face in his hands and stares into those big, kind eyes. "I'll marry you again when it's not. If you'll have me?" 

The soft _oh_ that slips out of Bobby Ray then feels like an aural kiss. 

And Bobby Ray says yes, tips their foreheads together and says it again as a smile spreads over his face, can't stop saying it in words and looks and touches until the kissing starts. 

For the sake of a good story that really tells the moment, Andrew chooses to ignore the resulting sneezing fit. 

And when Bobby Ray's curled up beside him, his head resting in the crook of Andrew's shoulder and a blanket tugged over them both to keep Bobby Ray warm, Andrew finds himself thinking _So this is how this feels_. 

:: 

There's no ring from Tiffany's, no big public spectacle, no politicized-beyond-reason ceremony and no overblown reception. Instead, there's a stop at City Hall and a warning to his mother that Andrew will be _unhappy_ if she pushes either of them about any part of this; there's Stella Perry coming in like the adoptive mother Bobby Ray needs to counteract his own, rings of unbreakable glass designed by Jake and a pair of wedding suits from the mind of Frederick Montana. 

There's a smallish reception for a select group of friends in Manhattan and a slightly larger one in Pigeon Creek, Colonel Murphy grilling Andrew about his intentions three weeks after the fact and Clinton's steely-eyed look promising there won't be trouble if Andrew wants to kiss his spouse on Alabama soil. 

There's a few good years of Bobby Ray pretending he doesn't miss Alabama like a limb, a half-dozen more living like Jake and Melanie do, a place in both states and home in each other, friends having babies they don't see often enough and Andrew's mother's career winding down. 

Then there's two years in transition before Andrew sits the Alabama bar. 

Nineteen months or so after Andrew hangs his shingle up on Main Street, Pigeon Creek, the news breaks. 

The third time Andrew proposes, he doesn't even really have to ask. He knows Bobby Ray's seen the newsfeed, probably had half the town dying to pass word along, and when Bobby Ray gets in after work, so much boyish hope on his face, all Andrew has to do is ask when and where. 

:: 

And eight months after the new law takes effect, Andrew finds himself right back at the Carmichael place, waiting to slide his ring right back where it belongs.


End file.
